Tampongate
{{Short description|1993 revelation of a phone call between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
Tampongate or Camillagate refers to the controversy over a 1989 telephone conversation between Charles, Prince of Wales (later King Charles III), and his then-lover, Camilla Parker Bowles (later Queen Camilla), which was published in the tabloid press in 1993.{{Sfn|Brandreth|2007|p=257}}{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/6226657/crown-charles-camilla-tampongate/|title=The True Story Behind Charles and Camilla's Phone Sex Leak on The Crown|magazine=Time|first=Eliana|last=Dockterman|date=9 November 2022|accessdate=17 November 2022|archive-date=16 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116194130/https://time.com/6226657/crown-charles-camilla-tampongate/|url-status=live}} The tape immediately damaged Charles's public image,{{Sfn|Brandreth|2007|p=275}} and the media vilified Parker Bowles for the breakdown of Charles's marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales.{{Sfn|Brandreth|2007|pp=274–276}} The publication of the tape came only a month after Charles and Diana's formal separation had been announced in the House of Commons.{{cite hansard |jurisdiction=Parliament of the United Kingdom |title=Prince And Princess Of Wales |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1992-12-09/debates/ecfacae4-f52c-461c-b253-d7c04a299735/PrinceAndPrincessOfWales |house=House of Commons |date=9 December 1992 |volume=215 |column=845 |speaker=John Major |position=Prime Minister |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618121452/https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1992-12-09/debates/ecfacae4-f52c-461c-b253-d7c04a299735/PrinceAndPrincessOfWales |archive-date=18 June 2023 }}
Background and context
The scandal was made public in the United Kingdom on 17 January 1993 by the Sunday People and the Sunday Mirror although by then Australian magazine New Idea and a German tabloid had reported on the matter.{{cite news|date=14 January 1993 |first=William |last=Tuohy |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |title='Camillagate' may keep Charles off throne. Britain: publication of recording of alleged affair raises questions about how long monarchy will last. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-14-mn-1529-story.html}} The tapes were of a six-minute telephone conversation between the Prince of Wales and his then-mistress recorded on the evening of 18 December 1989,{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-camillagate-tapes-exposed-secret-10958350|title=How the Camillagate tapes exposed the secret bedtime chat between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles|date=10 August 2017|first=Claire|last=Carter|newspaper=The Mirror}} while Camilla was at her home and Charles was at a friend's country house.
In the conversation, which was recorded by a radio amateur who happened to detect the call using a high-tech scanning device, Charles and Camilla joked about the then-prince's wishes for an even closer relationship:
{{Blockquote|Charles: Oh. God. I'll just live inside your trousers or something. It would be much easier!
Camilla: What are you going to turn into, a pair of knickers? Oh, You're your'e going to come back as a pair of knickers.
Charles: Or, God forbid a Tampax. Just my luck!
Camilla: You are a complete idiot. Oh, what a wonderful idea.
Charles: My luck to be chucked down the lavatory and go on and on forever swirling round on the top, never going down.
Camilla: Oh, Darling!
Charles: Until the next one comes through.
Camilla: Oh, perhaps you could come back as a box.
Charles: What sort of box?
Camilla: A box of Tampax, so you could just keep going.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yVxDwAAQBAJ&dq=Mmm%2C+so+do+I.+I+need+you+all+the+week.+All+the+time&pg=PT181|title=The Windsor knot: Charles, Camilla, and the legacy of Diana|editor=Graymalkin Media|date=3 October 2018|publisher=Graymalkin Media |isbn=9781631682148}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/no-tampongate-in-the-crown-josh-oconnor.html|title=Put "Tampongate" in The Crown, you cowards|website=The Cut|first=Madeleine|last=Aggeler|date=13 May 2020}}}}
Reception
The general consensus following the publication of the tapes was that Charles had embarrassed the British royal family. According to Diana's bodyguard, Ken Wharfe, in his book, Guarding Diana: Protecting the Princess Around the World "The backlash was savage. Establishment figures normally loyal to the future King and country were appalled, and some questioned the Prince's suitability to rule." Wharfe also stated that Diana was shocked by the scandal, which prompted her to repeatedly state "It's just sick".{{cite magazine|url=https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a34736481/tampongate-scandal-the-crown/|newspaper=Esquire|date=20 November 2020|title=What Was the Tampongate Scandal and Why Isn't 'The Crown' Covering It|first=Laura|last=Martin}}
The publication of the conversation led William Rees-Mogg, editor of The Times, to suspect that MI5 could be behind the scandal. Shortly before, two other recordings of telephone conversations involving members of the royal family had appeared in the press: one between Diana and her lover James Gilbey (which became known as Squidgygate), and another between Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah, Duchess of York. Rees-Mogg stated: {{Blockquote|I think the three tapes mean that there had to be a deliberate surveillance of the Royal Family at that point. I think one has to ask whether it was done as part of the security screening, and whether what has happened is that the Royal Family were being taped as part of MI5's operation, and, in some way, these tapes were leaked.}}
The publication of the tape and its repercussions were featured in season 5 of the TV series The Crown.
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{Cite book |last=Brandreth |first=Gyles |url=https://archive.org/details/charlescamillapo00bran |title=Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair |publisher=Random House |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-09-949087-6 |author-link=Gyles Brandreth}}
{{Charles III}}
{{Queen Camilla}}
Category:Political scandals in the United Kingdom
Category:Royal scandals in the United Kingdom